Using older grains to brew with

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smdbrewer

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Good afternoon,
General question, recent all grain brew I did, the grains used were roughly 6-9 months since purchased, Does this effect the efficiency of the brew?
Missed my target O.G.of 1.065 by a considerable amount 1.037 @70F.
System used: Brewzilla

Mash was held for 1Hr
Fly sparge was also done over 1Hr.

Thank you
 
smdbrewer said:
Good afternoon,
General question, recent all grain brew I did, the grains used were roughly 6-9 months since purchased, Does this effect the efficiency of the brew?
Missed my target O.G.of 1.065 by a considerable amount 1.037 @70F.
System used: Brewzilla

Mash was held for 1Hr
Fly sparge was also done over 1Hr.

Thank you
Click to expand...
Were the grains crushed at the time of purchase or did you crush right before brewing? Either way the age of the grain probably isn't the issue, I think Brulosophy had an experiment that used grain that had been crushed years before and there wasn't a significant impact on efficiency. My own experience with older (2-3 months) crushed grain is that it'll brew fine if kept dry. I would suspect the quality of the crush is the culprit here
 
Grains were crushed as time of purchase, I really didn't look to hard when I got them, but now that I think about it, it didn't seem very crushed when I added.
 
Crush has a big influence on it. Age, not as much.
 
The only time I had issues was when weevils decided they liked malted grains.
And with my maris otter that smellled like it was fermenting.
But generally, no issues, even with grains that were a couple years old
 
Just the other day, I composted an entire bag of pilsner malt and over a half bag of Maris Otter that had been sitting in my garage for several years. Last time I brewed was late '21, I think, so it was there for a while. I assumed that it would all be full of bugs but it wasn't. I was more concerned with intense heat. Texas summers have been extra hot and it's easy for that space to get up to 100 degrees during the day. I tasted both malts and actually they weren't noticeably off-flavored. I just couldn't bring myself to put in the labor brewing and have the beer taste nasty because I was too cheap to buy new grain. :)
 
I've had grains in storage for over a year in a 20 foot container. That included summertime with temperatures if over 40 °C outside. Inside must have been hotter!
I used the grain, simply because it is difficult for me to get it. Obviously I smelled first
 
Zambi said:
I've had grains in storage for over a year in a 20 foot container. That included summertime with temperatures if over 40 °C outside. Inside must have been hotter!
I used the grain, simply because it is difficult for me to get it. Obviously I smelled first
Click to expand...
AND??? @Zambi ! Don't leave us hanging...how did the batch turn out?

@philjohnwilliams is right, Brulosophy did do a measured study on this very question and adding insult to injury, the grains were purposely stored in a careless manner in a hot garage in a paper bag rolled up in a plastic bag.....maybe a trash can liner bag? I think it was 18 months? This was against a control batch with a "fresh" grainbill and their triangle test had no discernable difference as they say. So @smdbrewer , I'd review your notes, recipe and process. I'm not the most familiar with the GF other than hearing that folks that use them, love them. Was the grainbill's weight right?
 
Weevils are endemic and will get into any grain so we keep wheat flour, corn meal, and brewing grains in the freezer. The weevils even get into deer corn and bird seed so we buy these just before use. Anyone else freeze your brewing grains and extracts?
 
Daniel Parshley said:
Weevils are endemic and will get into any grain so we keep wheat flour, corn meal, and brewing grains in the freezer. The weevils even get into deer corn and bird seed so we buy these just before use. Anyone else freeze your brewing grains and extracts?
Click to expand...
yeast and hops are in the Bierstube fridge....I'm not a bulk grain buyer but for flour and sugar that I store bulk in 5 gallon buckets with Gamma lids seems to keep thing's fresh and bug free
 
So, here's a potential data point...

I found that my bins weren't empty and my Pilsner bin still had about 15 lbs in it. I had been intending to do an amber split batch to get an Irish Red and maybe an American Amber. I decided that since I needed to test the viability of my Apex Munich that had been sitting in the fridge for a couple of years, I'd do a simple Amber Lager along with the Irish Red. Super easy split since the beers are pretty identical except for yeast and maybe a few points of gravity and a little color. Instead of using Pale Ale malt as I would have for the American Amber version of the split, I decided to take a chance on the years-old Pilsner malt. The grist is All Pilsner with 15% Munich and 5% Caramunich so if there's any problem with the Pilsner, it'll come through. I used a little steeped Pale Chocolate in a late addition for the Irish Red portion, so that one might not be as clear an indicator.

I won't know for certain until the beer is done but if the aroma and taste of the mash and boil and taste test of the wort going into the fermenter are any indication, there won't be anything noticeable to indicate that the malt was old. I did have slightly lower efficiency than I usually get but that might be attributable to a coarser crush - I had to mill at the LHBS because my mill crapped out just as I was getting started (that's a whole 'nother story :rolleyes: :) ).
 
smdbrewer said:
Good afternoon,
General question, recent all grain brew I did, the grains used were roughly 6-9 months since purchased, Does this effect the efficiency of the brew?
Missed my target O.G.of 1.065 by a considerable amount 1.037 @70F.
System used: Brewzilla

Mash was held for 1Hr
Fly sparge was also done over 1Hr.

Thank you
Click to expand...

A bit more information would help.

were you recirculating?
did you use rice hulls?
did you have a stuck mash ( water is not flowing over the grains and draining, but rather water sits on top of the grains) ?
how often did you stir / reseat the grains?

I agree with previous commenters, the crush probably wasn’t good enough for an all in one / brew in a bag system. These require a more fine crush than normal, or about a credit card width.

I’ve brewed with year old ... sometimes more grains and the only time I’ve missed gravity by that much was on a Roggenbier (more than 50% rye malt). I didn’t use enough rice hulls and just could. not. get. that mash flowing. extraction was poor and so was the resulting fermented liquid, whatever it was.

you say you mashed for an hour. Was the mash finished?
if you don’t have a refractometer, get one and use it during the mash.

mash until you make your numbers, not for a set period of time.
An hour for the sparge is fine, but if your mash extraction was poor, you’re only thinning out an already thin liquid.

I’m brewing an APA now, and been mashing 90 minutes already- I keep getting increasing gravity readings. Typically when I get 2 consecutive similar readings, I mash out.
 
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